C-Notes: Scene's Music Blog

What to Do Tonight: Creed

A lot of times when bands break up, fans can’t understand why. When Creed splintered in 2004, there was no mystery. During their peak in the late ’90s, frontman Scott Stapp went on and on about how he sang his band’s hit song “With Arms Wide Open” as his wife was giving birth to their son. No wonder she later divorced this self-important blowhard. So it was hardly shocking when Stapp’s bandmates left him too and formed the hard-rock band Alter Bridge. Last year, Creed got back together — apparently because there are some music fans nostalgic for angst-without-a-cause rock. The songs on Creed’s first album since the breakup, and their first in eight years, Full Circle, are as heavy-handed as its title. You can expect to hear a sizable dose of new material when the band plays Blossom Music Center this weekend. But more than anything, you’ll get hits like “My Own Prison,” “Higher,” and “My Sacrifice,” which still log plenty of airtime on frat-rock radio. Just don’t call this tour a reunion; Stapp refers to it as a rebirth. Because that’s the kind of sanctimonious jackass he is. Creed, with Red and Theft, play Blossom Music Center at 7 p .m. Tickets: $16, $26. —Ed Condran